Mr PB's guest post: in defence of my blogoholic

Hello, Lovelies (I'm sure that's how each post begins). It’s Mr PB here. I think Mrs PB’s been a bit hard on herself here. It's late Sunday night, the pixies are asleep, Mrs PB is detoxing from blogaholism watching last night’s recorded episode of ‘Spooks’ and for me, it’s time to relax before I head into my weekly “I don’t like Mondays moment”. All I really want to do is add my two bits on her worry about being a blogoholic. Just quickly, I am so amazed at how fantastic, creative, resourceful, entrepreneurial and supportive you bloggers are. All I can see is good coming out of blogging. What you are creating on a regular basis with your posts and then reaching out to each other – it is such a friendly and supportive environment for a full time mum with 3 under 5 to be part of.

Generally speaking, men (me included) can get all the credit (ie monthly pay and smiles at the supermarket when shopping with the kids) but hey, this is no unique insight – we are on Easy Street. I plan for tomorrow, escape from the four walls of a shrinking house, p#&s off to do something completely different for 10 hours and then come home and whinge about what a crap day at work I’ve had.

 

Stir the pot tonight and ask your husbands or partners if they truthfully would consider ‘trading places’ with you stay-at-home mums. Watch them wriggle and squirm as it dawns on them – the prospect of a tour of duty, alone, to look after the kids, day in and day out. Could they do it? I am sure they could but would they?

Here I am, in charge of the pixies (after one hour)

If they are anything like me, their likely answer would be (thinking “Deep breath – not this again”) “You are doing a great job – you’re a natural at this. Oh, and can we talk about this and your worldly concerns during the next ad break of ‘Top Gear’?”

Then if we did trade places, and after a few hours on the job, faced the opportunity to escape the reality and duck out into the world of the internet in between nappy changing, washing and whingeing, what websites would we visit in order to find like-minded men? My guess is something to do with travel (à la the Paris Hilton videotapes), day trader share sites or spending the month’s money (which has been set aside by Mrs PB for the end of month hot water bill) on a 'boat for sale' website and of course, an internet dating site as a means of trying to track down another stay-at-home-local-dad-with-three-kids-to-share-a- beer-with-at-the-pub.

There is no way I would have the insight, intuition and ability to use the internet as well as Mrs PB does to escape the drudgery. And so, as a complete outsider to the blogging world, I think it is brilliant. Mrs PB gets to record the thoughts and days of our lives, as well as her creative thoughts. It’s totally free and no limited money earned on a single income is lost on retail therapy trips, pokies, day spas, cigarettes or gossip magazines. I come home and the answer to my query “How was your day?” is already uploaded and edited with photos, recorded for all time, thus freeing up her time to think about something new and creative such as her ideal dinner party for 8 and things she enjoys other than just Planet Baby.

So, if Mrs PB is a self-confessed blogoholic, then hooray for her! It means she is having a mental break from the pixies and not just spending her days at the park, pushing swings back and forth (two on the go at once while trying to look after Quicksilver Sam as well) for the 1000th time. It means she is putting her thoughts, humour and personality out there for you all to enjoy. And what’s more, I find her blog (and your supportive comments) far more entertaining, creative and satisfying to read or watch than anything else on the TV or internet. Thanks everyone – I know she has good company when I vanish off to work each day! (I will leave the rest for Mrs PB to tidy up).

PS After she's had to account for every 6 minute block in her hour as a lawyer for 15 years, it's no wonder she checks her stats to judge how her day has gone!